City Chick Smokey Eye Kit includes three pressed-powder eyeshadows (one matte and two shimmer shades), a cream-to-powder eyeshadow base, and a retractable, long-wearing eyeliner pencil. The items work well together to create a smokey eye design and the kits come in a variety of color schemes, including hues of brown, gray, plum, green, lavender, and blue. Not all of the color combinations are easy to work with because they are highly contrasting, but the Brownstone collection is universally flattering.

In terms of performance, the powder shadows blend beautifully, the eyeliner offers a precision tip for dramatic emphasis, and the eyeshadow base creates a smooth, even canvas for longer lasting shadow. We’re not always fans of these types of kits because more often than not you end up using only part of what’s included, but Mally Beauty really got this one right!

Mally Roncal is a celebrity makeup artist who has worked on some of the most famous faces in Hollywood, not to mention numerous spreads in fashion magazines. After much success as a makeup artist, Roncal launched Mally Beauty—her namesake line of makeup and limited skin-care products—with the guiding philosophy that "the things that make us different are the qualities that make us beautiful." That’s a great philosophy, but the question is: Are these quality products with a difference that will help you look and feel more beautiful?

As might be expected, Mally Roncal's celebrity cache created buzz when her line launched, and the chatter has led to a strong following on the QVC shopping channel, which is the primary home of her products. While Roncal knows how to sell a product (She is quite the cheerleader on air!) and she has worked with celebrities, that doesn't automatically mean all the Mally Beauty products are worth buying.

Although there are some well-formulated and innovative products to be found, Mally Beauty has a few misses. The majority of Mally Beauty's eye makeup and eyebrow products perform quite well, they feature a spectacular concealer with sunscreen and there are some good lip color options as well. Mally's Cancellation Conditioning Concealer and Evercolor Poreless Face Defender are top notch worthy of special mention.

On the flipside, Mally Beauty misses the mark with a few of the foundations, primers, and blushes we tried. The foundation we experimented with was especially disappointing because Mally Roncal is known for creating the illusion of perfect, dewy-looking skin, which her Ultimate Performance Professional Foundation didn't accomplish with our team.

We have to give Mally Beauty praise for including helpful application tips, demonstration videos, and full ingredient lists on the company website, and for their wonderful team who was more than helpful in sending products for The Paula's Choice Research Team to experiment with. There are some strong options to be found here, as well as others we would recommend skipping and our reviews will steer you toward what’s worth your time and money.

The Beautypedia Research Team is dedicated to helping you find the absolute best products for your skin, using research-based criteria to review beauty products from an honest, balanced perspective. Each member of the team was personally trained by Paula Begoun herself.